List of address prefixes

Blockchain-based currencies use addresses, which are a Base58Check encoding of some hash, typically that of a public key. The encoding includes a version byte, which affects the first character in the address. The following is a list of some prefixes which are in use.

Initial byte(s)	Leading symbol	Use	Example
0	1	Bitcoin pubkey hash	12CPLrAUPvhVwjZqBgww3sLdEg4Z888R1j
5	3	Bitcoin script hash	3EktnHQD7RiAE6uzMj2ZifT9YgRrkSgzQX
36	F	Friendly pubkey hash	Ff361bCr7k8aFHjseFxaYWaSpjfq9hVswD
48	L	Litecoin pubkey hash	LhK2kQwiaAvhjWY799cZvMyYwnQAcxkarr
52	M or N	Namecoin pubkey hash	NATX6zEUNfxfvgVwz8qVnnw3hLhhYXhgQn
95	f	Fairbrix pubkey hash	fF6o8LeDAfswEpMbCW8BqaqmzMWS7TGgew
97	g	GeistGeld pubkey hash	gQ8YScyiMUTart6kUJpzhjPzAKfiYAwooc
105	j	i0coin pubkey hash	jWmCr5cKeQjV4iyfUyipfLGwVML8MvXhF2
111	m or n	Bitcoin testnet pubkey hash	mkJ7Bf5chdfw61d1m7gnDVAQV3EQQAb8iz
125	s	Solidcoin pubkey hash	sXNaMoYBocjcQJRLK53dkaQ5mWuKfvHB9f
127	t	Tenebrix pubkey hash	tUK2EQTMF6cN6vuNEfJtVf1BMqarvEZJBL
128	5	Bitcoin Private key (for uncompressed pubkey)	5Htn3FzuH3b1X5VF2zLTsAQzBcyzkZNJsa2egXN8ZFJTCqQm3Rq
128	K or L	Bitcoin Private key (for compressed pubkey)	L1aW4aubDFB7yfras2S1mN3bqg9nwySY8nkoLmJebSLD5BWv3ENZ
138	x	ixcoin pubkey hash	xoKDFH4uWpyzxUcCC5jCLFujRKayv3HHcV
196	2	Testnet script hash
239	9	Testnet Private key (for uncompressed pubkey)	91eWjgRmucdtYHpMdsHbn9h8UU8hdoMNSKj8p3QAj6VTLyBnjj6
239	c	Testnet Private key (for compressed pubkey)	cNJFgo1driFnPcBdBX8BrJrpxchBWXwXCvNH5SoSkdcF6JXXwHMm
0x142, 0x143	6P	Encrypted private key (BIP 38)	6PRVWUbkzzsbcVac2qwfssoUJAN1Xhrg6bNk8J7Nzm5H7kxEbn2Nh2ZoGg

Note that private keys for compressed and uncompressed bitcoin public keys use the same version byte. The reason for the compressed form starting with a different character is because a 0x01 byte is appended to the private key before base58 encoding.

The following table shows the leading symbol(s) and address length(s) for 160 bit hashes for each of the possible decimal version values:

Decimal version	Leading symbol	Address length
0	1	up to 34
1	Q-Z, a-k, m-o	33
2	o-z, 2	33 or 34
3	2	34
4	2 or 3	34
5-6	3	34
7	3 or 4	34
8	4	34
9	4 or 5	34
10-11	5	34
12	5 or 6	34
13	6	34
14	6 or 7	34
15-16	7	34
17	7 or 8	34
18	8	34
19	8 or 9	34
20-21	9	34
22	9 or A	34
23	A	34
24	A or B	34
25-26	B	34
27	B or C	34
28	C	34
29	C or D	34
30-31	D	34
32	D or E	34
33	E	34
34	E or F	34
35-36	F	34
37	F or G	34
38	G	34
39	G or H	34
40-41	H	34
42	H or J	34
43	J	34
44	J or K	34
45-46	K	34
47	K or L	34
48	L	34
49	L or M	34
50-51	M	34
52	M or N	34
53	N	34
54	N or P	34
55-56	P	34
57	P or Q	34
58	Q	34
59	Q or R	34
60-61	R	34
62	R or S	34
63	S	34
64	S or T	34
65-66	T	34
67	T or U	34
68	U	34
69	U or V	34
70-71	V	34
72	V or W	34
73	W	34
74	W or X	34
75-76	X	34
77	X or Y	34
78	Y	34
79	Y or Z	34
80-81	Z	34
82	Z or a	34
83	a	34
84	a or b	34
85	b	34
86	b or c	34
87-88	c	34
89	c or d	34
90	d	34
91	d or e	34
92-93	e	34
94	e or f	34
95	f	34
96	f or g	34
97-98	g	34
99	g or h	34
100	h	34
101	h or i	34
102-103	i	34
104	i or j	34
105	j	34
106	j or k	34
107-108	k	34
109	k or m	34
110	m	34
111	m or n	34
112-113	n	34
114	n or o	34
115	o	34
116	o or p	34
117-118	p	34
119	p or q	34
120	q	34
121	q or r	34
122-123	r	34
124	r or s	34
125	s	34
126	s or t	34
127-128	t	34
129	t or u	34
130	u	34
131	u or v	34
132-133	v	34
134	v or w	34
135	w	34
136	w or x	34
137-138	x	34
139	x or y	34
140	y	34
141	y or z	34
142-143	z	34
144	z or 2	34 or 35
145-255	2	35